Caddo Parish Commissioner Steven Jackson must submit to a deposition because of statements he made on his online blog about a lawsuit challenging removal of a Confederate monument, a federal judge ruled.

U.S. District Court Judge Robert G. James issued the ruling in late April, overturning a magistrate's earlier order preventing the United Daughters of the Confederacy from deposing Jackson and Commissioners Lyndon Johnson, Matthew Linn and Stormy Gage-Watts.

The commissioners were among those who voted in October to remove the Confederate monument from the grounds of the Caddo Parish Courthouse in downtown Shreveport.

The Shreveport chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy immediately filed a lawsuit to stop the removal. In January, James denied the organization's request for a preliminary injunction, saying it was unlikely to prevail in getting a permanent injunction. The United Daughters has continued to press the case.

The United Daughters said in court documents that it wanted to depose Jackson because of things he wrote in his online blog, including a January post where he addressed the judge's decision to deny the organization's request for a preliminary injunction.

“Today’s decision is a dose of justice which clears the path for Caddo Parish to turn the page on this point in history," a portion of the post reads. "We should not allow history to define us by the horror and injustices of statues that paid homage to 'The Cult of the Lost Cause.' We should instead allow history to define us as place who accepts all human beings regardless of the race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, age, and ethnicity as God created us.”

Jackson said he is "excited to sit down for the depositions."

United Daughters attorney Dave Knadler and Caddo Parish Attorney Donna Frazier were not immediately available for comment.

In ordering Jackson to be deposed, James wrote that the blog entries were "the equivalent of newsletters to constituents" and thus were not subject to the legislative privilege permitting elected officials to speak without consequence.

At the same time, James wrote that he saw little relevancy in this line of inquiry for the United Daughters.

"While the Court sees little relevance of this line of inquiry to the merits of this case, the Court finds the statements are not protected on the grounds argued," a portion of the ruling reads.

The judge said Jackson's deposition must be limited to 90 minutes.

James also ruled that statements that Commissioners Johnson, Linn and Gage-Watts made about the Confederate monument to the news media are covered by legislative privilege. They do not have to submit to depositions, he ruled.

The United Daughters alleged in its lawsuit that the Caddo Parish Commission violated the organization's constitutional rights by ordering the Confederate monument's removal.

The most recent online court documents show that a trial date is no longer set. It was previously set for June 25.